Facilitating Display of a Menu and Selection of a Menu Item via a Touch Screen Interface

1. An information processing apparatus comprising: a machine comprising a display panel, wherein the machine is configured to act as: an operating tool detector to detect a touch state of an operating tool with the display panel, wherein the touch state concerns interaction with an object displayed on the display panel; a display controller to, in response to the operating tool detector detecting a first rotation of the operating tool away from a first pointing direction to a second pointing direction by at least a predetermined angle, control the display panel to display an operation menu in a graphical interface comprising one or more selectable operation items for the object displayed on the display; and an operation item selecting portion to, in response to the operating tool detector detecting a second rotation of the operating tool away from the second pointing direction to a third pointing direction, select one of the selectable operating items from the operation menu based at least in part on the third pointing direction.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the operation item selecting portion is configured to select an operation item displayed in the operation menu at a position on a line extending in the third pointing direction.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the operation item selecting portion is configured to, in response to the operating tool detector detecting the second rotation, select an operation item displayed in the operation menu at a position on a line extending from a fourth pointing direction defined by a change amount obtained by multiplying the amount of change in the pointing direction of the operating tool from the second pointing direction to the third pointing direction by a coefficient a, the coefficient a being larger than 1.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein: the display controller is configured to, in response to the operating tool detector detecting the second rotation, control the display panel to rotate the selectable operation items of the operation menu by a change amount obtained by multiplying the amount of the change in the pointing direction of the operating tool from the second pointing direction to the third pointing direction by a coefficient (1−a).

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the machine is further configured to, in response to the operating tool detector detecting a non-touch state of the operating tool at a time that the operation menu is displayed in response to the second rotation, execute the operation item selected by the operation item selecting portion.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the display controller is further configured to, in response to the operating tool detector detecting movement of the operating tool a predetermined distance or more, stop display of the operation menu.

7. An method for facilitating display of a menu and selection of menu items on a touch screen interface, comprising: detecting a touch state of an operating tool with a display panel, wherein the touch state concerns interaction with an object displayed on the display panel; in response to detecting a first rotation of the operating tool away from a first pointing direction to a second pointing direction by at least a predetermined angle, controlling the display panel to display an operation menu in a graphical interface comprising one or more selectable operation items for the object displayed on the display panel; and in response detecting a second rotation of the operating tool away from the second pointing direction to a third pointing direction, selecting one of the selectable operating items from the operation menu based at least in part on the third pointing direction.

8. The information processing method of claim 7 , further comprising: selecting one of the operation items from the operation menu based at least in part on an amount of the change in pointing direction from the second pointing direction to a third pointing direction, wherein the third pointing direction is between the first and second pointing directions.